Sword of the Stars: Complete Collection

Sword of the Stars is a rare gem in 4x games. But it is different from all other 4x games I've played and therefore not for everyone. But if you like its focus it is one of the best. The strategy layer is relatively simple, planet management is mostly a few sliders to change focus between building infrastructure or ships. You can overharvest for short term gains, but this game is not about detailed management of planets. This game is about conquering the galaxy by force. All the races play differently due to their unique propulsion technologies: Tarka have the classic warp drives. Usually leads to classic spherical empires. Liir teleport inch by inch, just very fast. Highly manouverable ships with no inertia. This drive works better outside of gravity wells, so they can cross large distances with no stars inbetween very fast. Leads to empires spread over large voids. Humans can only explore along natural wormhole lines. Very fast, but can only expand well along these node lines. Empire shape therefore depends on RNG. Hivers have never discovered FTL, but they have learned to construct warp gates for instant teleport. Extremely slow expanding through the galaxy...but once they have a warp gate set up everything is a next door neighbor. Leading to intense battles around the gate ships. All this leads up to amazing tactical battles. Real-Time with a pause function with ships having inertia, trying to outmanouver the enemy. And you can't go too slow as there is a time limit after which forces have to regroup to fight another day. So fights around a defended planet can go multiple turns, I've had epic battles barely holding my ground with both sides resupplying each turn. Central command ships are the core of the fleet, they limit the ships you can bring simultanously. Vulnerable important targets if you want to access your reserves, on both sides. Combat is where this game really shines, and where every research and ship design decision you made matters.

It's a fun turn-based 4X game with real-time tactical combat, interesting lore and never a dull moment that keeps sucking you in for just one more turn. This is primarily a combat-oriented 4X game. Diplomacy and economy management are very simplistic. Your job will be primarily managing research, building ships, attacking and defending and dealing with all the logistics. Aside from (obviously) fighting with the other players, you will also spend a lot of time dealing with a bunch of different random events, from random encounters with alien swarms and rogue AIs to your research going over budget (and taking longer than expected). Of course it's not all bad - sometimes your researchers make a breakthrough and complete research way ahead of schedule. Nice! This randomness is never "overpowering" (the RNG isn't out to get you). It's just enough to keep you on your toes and add a bit of "color". With regards to the races you can play with, they are unique beyond just "this race is better at one thing, but worse at another thing". Their FTL technology is different, which affects your whole strategy. They also have they own "personality", which is reflected in the AI player's attitudes toward you and other players. The developers did a terrific job writing detailed backgrounds for the races and putting a real effort explaining all this crazy technology you are playing with. Each tech you can research has a little "blurb" with appropriately "sci-fi" explanations about what it does and how. I find it cool - it really captures the imagination. The only real downside of this game is the UI, which is pretty bad. It's almost a deal-breaker. It takes some effort to get used to it, which is a shame because I can see some people getting real turned off by it and giving up. That said, all in all, I would recommend this game. If you can overlook the UI problems, you have here a solid and unique 4X game that will give you hours of enjoyment.

This is a pure conquest focused 4X, with no building on planets, but great races, tech trees, ship design and 3D highly detailed real-time combat. It lacks a real in-game tutorial.⚔ Instead there are videos describing each aspect of the game, but they're very well made. Watch them with attention (not to read the whole manual) and you'll realize how easy it is, the interface is clear and straightforward.🌟 You only build ships, no ground building. Population, industry, terraformation are handled automatically. You only have to manage your budget. At empire level, the slider is savings vs research. At planetary level, it's construction vs trade, refined by 3 sub sliders : industrialization, terraformation, ship building. There are also technologies improving these. I find this relative simplicity refreshing compared to many other 4X.🌟 The tech trees are randomized (but make logical sense), and you only see the next tech(s) from those researched. I like it because it doesn't let you over think about what to do next and it also adds replayability and variety.🌟 In ship design, you choose different modules as front, middle and rear part, options for each (plating, shields, special equipment), and your weapons for the different sizes directional mounts. Enter 3D real-time combat where everything is simulated, and the amount of effort you put into it is up to you. From auto-resolution to handling each ship and weapon groups separately to act a certain way and target precise polygons on enemies.🌟 Developped planets can produce ships very fast, but you can't retrofit them...⚔ And as victory is only domination, the endgame can become tedious as you look for that last tiny fleet moving their homeworld again and again.⚔ Finally, the races are Science-Fiction delight, with highly detailed lore and specific gameplay changing features.🌟 ⚔ are major issues for me, but the game is still very good if you like its compromises allowing for still strategic but faster gameplay.

I will cut to the chase: What's really awesome about Sword of the Stars is the battle screen. Try to run it on a huge monitor or through a projector if you have the chance - the wow-factor is considerable. You're inside a sci-fi movie. Ships show progressive damage, and it is immensely satisfying to see your smoldering dreadnought surviving the last seconds of an attritional battle, when you had expected nothing but to see it go down in flames. The game's main weaknesses, in my opinion, are the various races, which are unimaginative, derivative of known fauna and standard sci-fi tropes, and the story, which never feels necessary. Not that it matters: No other PC game has made me come back for more the way this one has

Why the 4 stars? Because after every action you do in the game your advisers have to say something and some races get annoying much quicker than others with the phrases advisers say. Once in a while maybe but after every single mouse click? Come on! The game is great and researching and commanding fleets in 3D is fun but after 20 minutes of playing I get really annoyed with the stupid advisors saying the same thing over and over again whenever I click on the research button or the build button. I can't take the voices anymore.... make them stop!